Materials:

• Small Rounded Canister (I find the Tetley Tea ones perfect!)
• Pebbles
• Kraft or Newspaper
• Sisal Rope, Twine or Raffia
• Jingle Bells (Optional) – Can you tell I have a ton of Jingle Bells hanging around?!

Cost: Absolutely free!

Rinse out your empty cannister to make sure it’s nice and clean.  I love the Tetley ones because they’re lightweight, not too large and aren’t breakable.  Dry with a towel or just leave upside down for a bit to dry out.  Next add a few pebbles!  These could be from the creek, down the side of your house or from your garden.  If you do get them from outside, wash them off first.  I had a bag of pebbles from the Dollar Store hanging around so I used about 6 of those.  Open the can and put the pebbles inside, then snap on the lid.  When you shake the can it’s going to make a great sound for your rabbit!  It might be a little loud now but the paper will help muffle it.

Next cut out a couple of large pieces of newspaper or kraft paper.  The size is really dependent on what size your can is and it doesn’t have to be exact.  You want your pieces of paper large enough to fit around the can multiple times.  I didn’t want to use any glue or tape products to hold the lid on the can so to prevent your rabbit from easily ripping the paper off, you’re going to wrap it up thoroughly.  I used one large piece of kraft paper to roll the can in and then folded the ends up over the can.  Next I used the second piece and just rolled it around the can.  Even if your rabbit did get the paper off the toy the lids snap in to place so it would be pretty tricky for them to open it.  If your rabbit loves to cause trouble and really wreck stuff however this might be best as a supervised toy.

After you’ve wrapped the can in paper, twist the ends and use your string to tie it up!  I wrapped the string around several times and did quite a few knots to keep it from easily being chewed off.  I also chose to add a jingle bell to each end for added noise making.  If you’re left with large pieces of paper on either side, cut them so they’re about 1″ long.  Now give to your rabbit and watch him try to grab and toss it and bonk it with his nose!